By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, AUG 17: The upcoming 10th parliamentary session of the 16th Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE) has been postponed till March 2021, the Speaker of TPiE, Pema Jungney said Monday, citing ongoing COVID-19 travel restrictions and the possible absence of Tibetan parliamentarians living abroad and across India for the upcoming session. The session was scheduled to be held next month, the second of the two mandatory parliamentary sessions every year.
The house Standing Committee meeting on Aug 13 decided the postponement as per Article 6 and clause 2 of Article 49 in the Tibetan Charter. “We were bound to take this decision as we have to take responsibility especially when His Holiness the Dalai Lama resides here in Dharamshala . . . Even though the September session shall not be convened, matters and proceedings related to TPiE will execute without any negligence,” read the statement.
It also stated that the reports of the CTA’s offices as well as of institutions under the fiscal year 2019-20 is being reviewed by the members of the Standing Committee and the response of the annual report by the committee will also be submitted to the Kashag Secretariat.
The annual reports and the clarifications of the respective departments are to be submitted to the Parliamentary secretariat before Sept. 20th. Questions and commentaries from the parliamentarians on the reports are to be submitted to the TPiE secretariat before Oct 15. The final clarifications by the Tibetan administration to the questions raised on the annual reports will be submitted before Oct 31.
The Speaker told the media that documentation in the mandated process of all the departments in CTA and other institutions will be available on the official website of TPiE for the general public. The Tibetan parliament also curtailed the budgetary session in March limiting the 10-day session into just one day, in the light of the COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year.
